Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

Nativity of St. John the Baptist 393
was necessary to carry out His vocation. His preaching (os meum) carried
with it irresistible authority which struck His enemies near by like
a "sharp sword," and those at a distance like a "chosen arrow." This
sword, however, is sheathed and the arrow is in the quiver and will be
used only when and how God wills; but then they will strike true and
without fail.
These words of Isaias the Church applies to St. John; today he
makes them his own. Like our Saviour, St. John was also called by
name while still in the womb of his mother. After he had been conceived
an angel addressed him with the name John—"God has shown His
mercy." It was this mercy of God that freed him from original sin already
in the womb of his mother and filled him with the Holy Ghost.
Even before the Sun of Justice has risen, It penetrates with Its sanctifying
rays the soul of St. John and makes it holy. In the course of time
God leads him into solitude where great souls are prepared and matured
for their vocation. The penitential austerity he practiced throughout
his life fitted him well for preaching and demanding penance of others.
His words smote like a "sharp sword" and "a chosen arrow" all that was
unclean and vulgar. He carried out the will of God with the abandon
and lightning speed of an arrow. This is the picture of St. John who
today sings the earnest words of the Introit.
In contrast with the antiphon, the verse is joyous and jubilant. In
it the Church gives expression to that happiness which the Angel prophesied
would mark the birth of St. John, and sings the praises of the
Lord for all the miracles of grace wrought upon our saint.
Musica sacra, 45, 125 ff., Caecilia, 31, 85 ff.
GRADUAL (Jer. 1: 5, 9)
In the corpus of the Gradual the person of God is portrayed as.
speaking; in the verse, the person of the prophet Jeremias, whose words
are allotted to St. John. With the Introit taken from Isaias and the Gradual
from Jeremias we have the two greatest prophets of the Old Testament
represented on the feast of St. John, who "is more than a prophet."
Like the Introit, the Gradual describes the operations of God's
grace and love in preparing St. John for his sublime vocation and sanctifying
him (sanctificdvi te) "in his mother's womb." Introit and Gradual
have thus many points in common.
The corpus exhibits textual parallelism.
1. Priusquam te formarem in 1. Before I formed thee in the
utero, novi te: 2. et antequam exires bowels of thy mother, I knew thee:
de venire, sanctificavi te. 2. and before thou earnest forth out
of the womb, I sanctified thee.